They are the high-volume 2.5-liter 4-cylinder engine, an optional 3.5-liter V-6 for more traditional buyers, and a new generation of the well-known Camry Hybrid that pioneered the mid-size hybrid sedan segment more than a decade ago.

At yesterday's Detroit launch event, a 2018 Toyota Camry Hybrid didn't appear on stage, and aside from confirming its existence, the company said very little about it.

The hybrid Camry will use a 2.5-liter 4-cylinder engine optimized to work with what the company calls its Toyota Hybrid System II, effectively the successor to the Hybrid Synergy Drive system used since the 2004 Prius.

The new Camry, however, uses elements of the same Toyota New Generation Architecture component set that underpins the 2016 Toyota Prius hybrid.

That means that its hybrid battery pack moves from a location under the trunk floor to a new location under the rear seat, improving trunk volume and offering better front-to-rear weight distribution than the conventional Camrys.

It turns out, however, that the 2018 Camry Hybrid may share more with the latest Prius than just components under the skin.

The 2016 Prius has two different battery packs: the least expensive Prius Two version uses a nickel-metal-hydride pack, a technology in use for 20 years now.

But all higher versions employ a lithium-ion pack that's dimensionally smaller and much lighter for every other version—including the Prius Two Eco model that delivers an EPA combined rating of 56 mpg.

That's about all the information we have to date on the next Camry Hybrid, and Toyota isn't likely to release final specifications or features until closer to the 2018 Camry's on-sale date late this summer.

Asked about the possibility of a plug-in version of the Camry Hybrid—to compete directly with plug-in hybrid models of the Ford Fusion, Hyundai Sonata, and Kia Optima, and perhaps the Chevrolet Volt as well—Katsumata and other Toyota executives demurred.

The company also hasn't released any fuel-economy projections thus far for a 2018 hybrid Camry.